WELCOME TO THE WALKING PURCHASE WEB QUEST

Ever hear the phrase "History is written by the winners"?

Have you ever wondered how the losers would have told the story? Truth be told, "You can't always trust what you read".

Is there any way we can prove history happened the way they say it did in our textbooks? The answer to that last question is, YES!

What is the Walking Purchase?

The Walking Purchase is the agreement of 1737 between the Penn family, the proprietors of Pennsylvania and the Lenape (Delaware) tribe of American Indians. Click here for background on the Walking Purchase

There was (and still is) turmoil between the Indians and the colonists because of where the actual land boundaries should be.

Was William Penn trying to fool the Indians, or not?

We challenge you to test the accuracy of William Penn's walking purchase story.

You will estimate how much land we could have purchased following the rules of the agreement.

You will also re-calculate the area of the land purchased following the rules of the agreement.

You will also re-calculate the area of the land purchased pictured on a map.

Then you will decide: do the facts match the story?
Use our Walking Purchase WebQuest links to help you in your quest.
Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Extended Learning
So put on your walking shoes - and start walking - or should I say start running?!!

Created by:
Ken Brask
Steven Tarrant
AnniMaria Babel
Pennsylvania Curriculum Standards
8.1.9B. Analyze and Interpret Historical Sources
C. Analyze the fundamentals of historical interpretations
D. Analyze and interpret historical research credibility of evidence
2.3.8 Measurement and Estimation
F. Use scale measurements to interpret maps or drawings
2.4.8 Mathmatical Reasoning and Connections
C. Use if...then statements to construct simple, valid arguments

Email: mattandam@verizon.net